Sports bag

ABSTRACT

A sports bag includes a semi-flexible molded hollow body having a tubular wall and top and bottom open ends, a bottom cover attached to the bottom open end, and a receptacle detachably connected to the tubular wall.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a sports bag, more particularly to a sports bagthat has a strong structure.

2. Description of the Related Art

Referring to FIG. 1, a currently available golf bag 1 includes a tubularbody 10, and an accessory receiving unit 13. The tubular body 10includes inner and outer sheet layers 11, 12 which are sewn together toform the tubular body 10. The accessory receiving unit 13 is sewn to theouter layer 12 of the tubular body 10. Most sports bags are made in sucha way.

However, the following disadvantages occur during actual use:

1. Because the inner sheet layer 11 is made of a highly flexiblematerial, such as a PP material, so as to facilitate connection with theouter sheet layer 12 by sewing, when an external force is applied to thegolf bag 1, the outer sheet layer 12 tends to deform toward the innersheet layer 11 so that damage to the golf clubs within the inner sheetlayer 11 may occur.

2. Because the accessory receiving unit 13 is fixedly sewn to the outersheet layer 12, the golf bag 1 is difficult to clean.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a sportsbag that has a strong structure, that is easy to clean, that islightweight, and that has a design which can be varied.

According to this invention, a sports bag comprises a semi-flexiblemolded hollow body having a tubular wall and top and bottom open ends, abottom cover attached to the bottom open end, and a receptacledetachably connected to the tubular wall.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent in the following detailed description of the preferredembodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a currently available golf bag;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the preferred embodiment of a sports bagaccording to the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the preferred embodiment of a sports bagaccording to the present invention is shown to comprise a semi-flexiblemolded hollow body 2, a retaining unit 3, a bottom cover 4, a receptacle5, and a top cover 6.

The hollow body 2 may be formed into a variety of shapes as desired.When a tubular shape is desired, an extrusion method is applied. When aspecial shape is desired, a molding process may be used. After thedesired hollow body 2 is formed, a plurality of elongated ribs may beprovided on an outer periphery of the hollow body to strengthen thewhole structure.

The hollow body 2 is made tubular by interconnecting two or more sheetstogether, each of which is formed by a molding process. The sheetscooperate to define a receiving chamber 20 shown in FIG. 2. Sincedifferent sports bags are used for different purposes, the arrangementsrequired also vary. The arrangements, such as protrusions and elongatedribs, may be formed by a molding process and provided in predeterminedpositions, after which they are connected to the hollow body 2 toprotect the latter from external impact.

Because the hollow body 2 of the sports bag has to be strong, the hollowbody 2 is made of a material selected from the group consisting ofacrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polycarbonate (PC), polypropylene(PP), and a carbon fiber composite material.

In this embodiment, the hollow body 2 is a golf bag, and may be formedeither by an extrusion or molding process. The hollow body 2 has atubular wall defining the receiving chamber 20, and bottom and top openends, and includes a retaining unit 3 for interconnecting the hollowbody 2 and the receptacle 5. The retaining unit 3 includes a pluralityof retainers 31 fastened to top and bottom ends of the hollow body 2,and a plurality of hook portions 51 provided on the receptacle 5 toengage detachably and respectively the retainers 31 so that thereceptacle 5 can be connected detachably to the hollow body 2. However,there are many different methods of connecting detachably the receptacle5 to the hollow body 2. For example, a tightening string (not shown) maybe pulled out horizontally and vertically from the receptacle 5, afterwhich it may be hooked to the hollow body 2, or Velcro male and femalefasteners (not shown) may be provided respectively on the receptacle 5and the hollow body 2.

The bottom cover 4 includes a bottom plate 41, and a peripheral wall 42extending upwardly from the bottom plate 41 into the receiving chamber20. A plurality of fasteners 7 pass through the tubular wall of thehollow body 2, and engage the peripheral wall 42 of the bottom cover 4so as to fix the bottom cover 4 to the bottom open end of the hollowbody 4, thereby closing the same.

The top cover 6 is attached to the top open end of the hollow body 2,and is provided with a plurality of spaced-apart insertion holes 200 inspatial communication with the receiving chamber 20 to facilitatestorage of the different golf clubs in the receiving chamber 20.

The tubular wall of the hollow body 2 may be provided with an insertionmember 21, a socket member 22, a back strap 23, etc. The insertionmember 21 includes a ring member that has a dual purpose. Namely, thering member cooperates with the socket member 22 to hold an umbrella(not shown), and serves as a holder on which to hang a towel (notshown). The back strap 23 facilitates holding of the golf bag 1 by theuser.

The hollow body 2 exemplified in this embodiment is that of a golf bag.However, since golf bags and other sports bags have in common a mainbody added with a receptacle of some sort, the aforementioned hollowbody 2 of the present invention may be used as such a main body for bothgolf bags and other sports bags, and the receptacle 5 may be varied asneeded prior to attachment to the hollow body 2.

The main difference between the golf bag of the present invention andother sports bags resides in the top cover 6 of the golf bag which isprovided with a plurality of insertion holes 200 to accommodateinsertion of different kinds of golf clubs thereinto. Other sports bagsmay not need such an arrangement, so that the top cover 6 may bereplaced by a conventional openable cover (not shown), which may be madeof fabric material or a hard plate.

The advantages of the sports bag of the present invention can besummarized as follows:

1. Since the hollow body 2 is a semi-flexible molded body, it has lowflexibility and a strong structure, so that the rigidity of the hollowbody 2 is enhanced, thereby effectively protecting the articles in thesports bag.

2. Since the hollow body 2 is directly formed and does not involve asewing process, the weight of the hollow body 2 is substantiallyreduced.

3. Since the receptacle 5 is detachably connected to the hollow body 2,the receptacle 5 and the hollow body 2 can be cleaned separately.

4. Since the receptacle 5 is detachably connected to the hollow body 2,it can be replaced with a receptacle of a different design as desired tovary the outer appearance of the sports bag.

While the present invention has been described in connection with whatis considered the most practical and preferred embodiment, it isunderstood that this invention is not limited to the disclosedembodiment but is intended to cover various arrangements included withinthe spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompassall such modifications and equivalent arrangements.

1. A sports bag comprising: a semi-flexible molded hollow body having atubular wall, and top and bottom open ends; a bottom cover attached tosaid bottom open end; and a receptacle detachably connected to saidtubular wall.
 2. The sports bag as claimed in claim 1, wherein saidhollow body is made of a material selected from the group consisting ofacrylonitrile butadiene styrene, polycarbonate, polypropylene, andcarbon fiber composites.
 3. The sports bag as claimed in claim 1,wherein said sports bag is a golf bag, and further comprises a top coverattached to said top open end and provided with a plurality ofspaced-apart insertion holes.
 4. The sports bag as claimed in claim 1,further comprising a retaining unit to interconnect said hollow body andsaid receptacle, said retaining unit including a plurality of retainers,and a plurality of hook portions to engage detachably and respectivelythe retainers.